I was with a man I believed I could count on, in a marriage I thought would last until the end of my days.

My broken heart tells me I was wrong.

I’m no stranger to loss. I know the pain of a broken heart, but I also know the beauty and the gifts it brings. I know the difference that seeing this can make.

My heart won’t be wasted. I’ll make sure of that. And I don’t want anyone else’s to be either.

For a broken heart is an open heart.

A broken heart will be stronger than before.

A broken heart doesn’t need to be mended. It needs to be felt and experienced.

A broken heart is cracked open so more love can flow in. It can hold even more now—for itself and others.

A broken heart isn’t weak. It’s mighty. It’s lived. It’s loved. It’s wiser than before. It sees and knows things.

A broken heart still beats. It will live to see another day. A broken heart means we have tried hard for something.

There is beauty to be found in the cracks, in the imperfection. An unbroken heart hasn’t truly lived or loved.

A broken heart knows loss. It knows pain. But it also knows true love and joy when it finds it. A heart like this is priceless.

Our broken places aren’t weaknesses. They aren’t flaws. They’re our future strengths. They’re our battle scars. They are part of us. They make us more beautiful and interesting than before.

An angry heart is focused on the one who’s been hurt. It feels betrayed. It wants to defend and protect and make the other person wrong. But the loving heart knows that hating them will only hurt you both. A hateful heart only causes further pain and cracks to appear.

A loving heart may still be broken, but it’s also peaceful. It knows it needs to be cracked open for a while—to receive all the love and wisdom it needs. And gradually it’ll start knitting back together, in just the right way, at just the right time. It knows that our bodies will hold that love and we’ll get to feel it. That the love we hold will help us start healing from the inside out.

Being cracked open can bring a lot of pain but it also allows for love, light and insight to flow in from all directions, if only we’ll stop to notice.

Being cracked open brings transformation and illumination. We’ll be bigger and brighter than before – vulnerable yes, but strong and valiant as well.

We can’t force matters of the heart. We can’t force healing or repair. But we can allow it. And we can be committed to keeping our hearts open in the meantime.

If we can trust ourselves to weather a broken heart we’ll have much less to be afraid of. And we’ll end up living a whole lot more in the process.

What if we weren’t so afraid of being broken?

What if we knew that the pain would bring transformation? Wisdom, strength and even more love than before.

A broken heart is more in touch with the truth. It’s unconcerned with the superficial.

A broken heart is an open heart. And an open heart is ready to live this life and to say yes to all of it. An open heart is ready to grow and expand bigger than it ever thought possible.

Two choices: shrink and wither. Or expand and grow. Be less than before, or more. A larger heart means more room for all of it. More pain probably, but also more joy. A broken heart can be penetrated by love and joy in ways that an intact heart never can. Realising this can make the struggle worthwhile.

Our hearts are ours to feel and to protect. But we can’t let a broken heart close us down. We need to allow it to open us up instead. Love is scary. Life is scary. But what are we here to do? We can hide away or we can say yes to it all.

It’s not for the fainthearted. This is not the easy road, but it’s one that promises adventure—a full life lived, and a heart well used.

So we shouldn’t shut our hearts away. We shouldn’t waste them. We are stronger than we know.

We should use the hearts we’ve been given; live from them and let them show. Be big, powerful beating hearts with the warmth radiating out around us.

Our hearts knows things: truth, love, beauty, joy, bravery, strength, patience. So what better way to live than from the heart? Pain and loss give us no choice but to reconnect with the part of ourselves that knows what truly matters and how we can live our best lives.

So we need to pay close attention to them. They’re always calling us and they’re ours to keep forever.

Are we ready now to listen?

Will you join me in the fight?

Author: Kelly Salter

Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: NataliaDrepina/Deviantart